For Lizzie Garrett Mettler, being a tomboy is a combination of wardrobe and spirit. A writer who began her career at Bon Appetit magazine and is now a contributor to the Los Angeles Times, she experienced the tomboy look firsthand during her boarding school years. As her style has evolved, she looks for pieces that convey confidence, rebelliousness and her thirst for adventure.

With the release of her first book, "Tomboy Style: Beyond the Boundaries of Fashion" (Rizzoli, $32.50), Mettler curated a pictorial history chronicling decades of women who have blurred the line between masculine and feminine. Subjects range from the rebel and the jock, to the sophisticate and the naturalist, and include royalty (Princess Caroline of Monaco), celebrities and Patti McGee, the first female professional skateboarder - shown doing a handstand on her board, barefoot and rocking white pants and a bouffant hairdo.

In the spirit of Tomboy style, Mettler chose to have the book's launch party in San Francisco because Bay Area women "embody effortless chic with rugged sensibility."